To be honest, reviewing things on the IMDb has become a very
unattractive pursuit in the last few years, for reasons I shall not go
into here. But to see an entry finally added for Rosario + Vampire and
not see any attempt, leave alone a good one, to make readers aware of
what to expect... well, what can I do? Rosario + Vampire can basically
be discussed in a couple of parallel threads. There is the manga, and
there is this anime. Comparing one to the other is important, because
it is important to understand why fans of the manga still cry out for a
visual media adaptation. Another good point of comparison would be the
enormously successful HBO series True Blood.

Manga and anime alike start through the eyes of a boy in his mid-teens
who goes by the name of Tsukune. Tsukune is a profoundly average boy,
and has failed the entrance exams to pretty much every school in Japan.
But this is not meant to be a commentary about the intellectual caste
system of Japan. Rather, it is a setup to explain how Tsukune is
enrolled by his parents in the Youkai Academy after his father happens
across a flier dropped by a suspect-looking person. Of course, anyone
who knows the meaning of Youkai in Japanese knows where this is going.
Tsukune, upon learning that he is enrolled in a school for mythical
creatures, begins to write his withdrawal notice and make his way
toward the exit. But what stops him is the young woman he met earlier
in the day, a Vampire who goes by the name of Moka. Where Tsukune is
the most average, unremarkable Human, Moka is one of the most elite and
powerful Youkai of the lot, extraordinary even by Vampire standards.
And she finds the taste of Tsukune's blood very much to her liking.

It is more or less after this introduction that the manga and anime go
on very different paths. Whereas the characters of the manga face some
extreme challenges that go straight to the root of their psyches, the
anime is mostly farcical and only superficially explores any of the
feelings the characters have about anything. We get told that Moka is
very frightened of Humans because of her experiences of trying to
attend school in the Human world, but aside from flashbacks, we get
very little to concrete it. Mizore, easily my favourite character from
the manga, is basically reduced to running jokes about popping up in
the weirdest places and taking her desire of Tsukune a little too far.
In the manga, the arc that introduces her shows her dealing with trust
and abandonment issues as one of the sensei tries to take advantage of
her. The kindness that Tsukune shows her as she fights off that sensei
once and for all makes it patently obvious why she loves him. In the
anime, we are just expected to accept it as a given.

Where the anime partially saves itself is in the relationship between
Tsukune and Moka. Seeing them grow together as people as they learn to
deal with each others' differences is a major component of the early
manga that has been sadly lacking in recent volumes. One almost wishes
the series had been around for George Lucas to watch when he was
writing scenes for a pair of characters earlier in this decade. Since
the anime is also very brief and to the point, there is a lot less
gnashing of teeth about why Tsukune has to be so indecisive about which
of the women chasing him he wants. But the biggest selling point of the
anime by far is Nana Mizuki's voicework as both Inner and Outer Moka.
As the more demure, gentle Outer Moka, she sounds sweet and childlike
in a way that manages to not sicken this jaded old viewer (quite a feat
in itself that Harry Potty et al could never achieve). Then when the
Inner Moka comes out, she gently, calmly sounds like she could tear the
viewer's head off just to see the rest of them twitch. It is no
coincidence that all of the theme songs also feature Mizuki's voice
prominently.

So if you are curious as to whether to introduce yourself to Rosario +
Vampire through this series, I feel a comparison says it best. The
manga is like Tim Burton's Batman. The anime is a somewhat more
grown-up version of the Adam West abomination. But who knows? Maybe one
day we might get that Takashi Miike R+V adaptation I hold my breath
for.

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